> A huge part of the success over the last 10 or 15 years in the cafe and coffee industry has been about branding and design.

Most mom n pop coffee shops aren't Lauduree though. If you have a great story then good packaging can help sell that story, but if you don't have a story then it's at best just waste of money. Or worse, it undermines the built-in story that comes with the Costco cups.

I actually think this startup is going to do really well just based on the fact that there's a huge unmet need, but there's definitely some nuance to the situation.